Under A Rock
by PandaFire McMango
Summary: A normal day saving the world...until one of the team disappears in the sewers. When the Titans find him, he's barely alive. Who? What? When? Where? Why? All this and more...if people like the first chapter. Rated K for the moment; might increase later.
1. Discovery

I haven't written anything in AGES, I know...but hey, I'm going through a Titans phase. Let me know what you think, maybe I'll continue...

* * *

"Titans! Go!"

It was incredible how ingrained the response to those words were in all five of them. Raven tensed and shot forward in a whirl of blue cloak; Cyborg's circuits went to full capacity and his muscles started pumping like crazy; Beast Boy doubled over into a crouch and leapt across the ground, already going to all fours before transforming; and Starfire's eyes glowed green as she pulled on the sun out in space, harnessing its power to bring the familiar tingle of energy to her fingertips. Robin, of course, was ahead of all of them, charging into whatever the breach du jour was. He wasn't the strongest or the fastest of the Titans—but no matter what the problem was, he'd fight it with everything he had, for as long as it took. It was hard to figure out whether this made him a leader, or being a leader made him that way; but whatever it was, Robin was always the one who brought the team of heroes to peak form with the rallying call.

This time around, Johnny Rancid was the mook who had called them out of the Tower. He'd been roaring around a park, shooting benches and trying to run down dogs and little kids. The screams had reached the Titans' ears long before they saw Rancid in his standard black, riding the edge of a fountain, laughing like a maniac and firing into the treetops. Robin ground his teeth as they approached, and waited until the last second to call his team together: no reason to give Johnny a heads up and risk him trying to find a way out of the park.

"Aw, look! My fan club's showed up! Wha's a matter, Robin, you miss me?" Johnny shouted, firing off another shot. It came within spitting distance of Starfire, who veered left and sent back a barrage of green starbolts in response. Johnny laughed wildly and popped a wheelie as he dodged, heading for a stony footpath. Unfortunately for him, there was a large blockade of cybernetics and angry Titan in his way. A burst of blue from Cyborg's sonic cannon sent Johnny spinning backwards, snarling.

"Hey, Rancid, watch your step!" Beast Boy's husky voice sounded from behind the fountain, and Johnny was suddenly airborne, courtesy of a vicious kick from a gigantic green T-Rex. Starbolts and exploding boomerangs connected with him in midair, and he crashed to the ground, smoking.

"You punks think you're so tough!" he shouted, twisting out of the mangled mess that had been his motorcycle. "I'll teach you snot-noses what tough is! I'm Johnny Rancid!"

"We've heard," said Raven dryly. A wave of her hands and two pipes from the junk pile flew up and twisted themselves around Johnny, squeezing his arms tight against his torso. He grunted and struggled, cursing violently, but the dark energy held the pipes together until he fell to his knees, overbalanced and defeated.

"Punks! Whiny little punks, you can't beat Johnny Rancid! No one can!" he shouted, spit frothing at his lips. Starfire scrunched up her face in distaste as she landed by Robin.

"The Johnny Rancid is quite loud and unpleasant; may we not quiet him somehow, please?"

"Sure thing, Star," Cyborg said cheerfully. He pulled a roll of tape out of a compartment in his arm and ripped off a strip; Johnny was cut off in the middle of his hysterics as Cyborg spread the tape over his lips with relish.

"Dude—why are you carrying duct tape around?" Beast Boy asked, raising an eyebrow. Cyborg shrugged.

"Just because I have infinite technological marvels at my fingertips doesn't mean I can't appreciate the tried-and-true method. Duct tape _always_ comes in handy."

"That's not creepy at all," Raven mumbled, waving away smoke from Johnny's smoldering ex-bike. Robin surveyed the damage while Cyborg shot Raven a nasty look.

"Everything looks good…the cops'll be here soon to pick up the garbage." He smiled at Johnny, who was still trying to swear through adhesive-sealed lips. "I gotta say, Johnny, I expected a little more from you. Maybe you'll actually stay in jail now."

"Robin, don't tease the caged animal," Beast Boy said, grinning. "It's just gonna get even uglier next time."

"Well, until next time rolls around, I say we head back home and get us some lunch. I can feel my bolts rattling around inside, I need some food!"

"Yes, Cyborg!" Starfire cried, clapping her hands. "I too am filled with empty hunger feelings. Let us return to our home and procure some victuals!"

"I don't know what victuals are, but I'll eat anything at this point!" Beast Boy laughed, jumping up on Cyborg's back. "Giddyup, back to Titans Tower!"

"Not until you get down off me and walk."

"But I'm easy to carry!" Beast Boy whined, morphing into a squirrel. Cyborg tried to swat him, but he scurried across the computer-plated shoulders and down Cyborg's back. Starfire giggled as Cyborg danced around, trying frantically to lay a hand on the blur of green fur that climbed on him like he was a jungle gym.

"Just let him ride on you. I need to get home and meditate," Raven said quietly, drifting off towards the park exit. Robin followed her, beckoning to the others. As the Titans left the park, the sound of approaching sirens and Johnny Rancid's muffled ranting made the cool afternoon all the more pleasant.

The T-Car and R-Cycle were parked by the park entrance: a couple kids were clustered around them, oohing and ahhing. Robin shooed them off silently and mounted his bike, while Cyborg, Raven, and the green squirrel on Cyborg's shoulder got into the T-Car. Starfire hovered nearby and then flew low overhead as the Titans began a leisurely ride back home, enjoying the recent victory and looking forward to a big lunch that was, hopefully, free of tofu. There were few clouds overhead in the sunny sky, and pedestrians strolled past, laughing and talking. It was a good day.

Until the street exploded in front of them.

The explosion came out of nowhere, and narrowly missed blowing the front half of the T-Car away. Robin only avoided it by breaking so suddenly that he pitched forward, knocking the front of his helmet against his handlebars. Screams and cries echoed through the air while the smoke cleared from the gaping hole that was once a four-way intersection. Starfire gasped as she found herself looking down into an open sewer tunnel; the blast must have reached all the way down through the asphalt to blow open a pipeline.

The Titans were ready for action moments after the explosion: Cyborg and Raven leapt out of the T-Car, followed by a transformed Beast Boy. Robin vaulted off the R-Cycle and landed in a crouch, squinting through the smoke as Starfire arched over their heads.

"Dude, what just happened?" Beast Boy shouted, straining to be heard over the noise in the street. Raven's eyes glowed as she stared into the charred pit.

"Some kind of mine, I think. Probably remote-triggered, or maybe a timing mechanism."

"Who would put such a thing in the middle of a roadway?" Starfire wondered, her eyes widening as she continued to survey the damage. Robin frowned, scanning the street.

"I don't know, Star…but keep a look out. I'm guessing someone wanted to make a big boom as a distraction—_I_ want to find out what for."

But the distraction seemed to have done its job well. No one had a mind to do anything but get to safer ground. Chaos reigned: people were shouting and flailing and running in all directions, down side streets, into restaurants, up and down the sidewalks.

Only one person ran straight for the crater.

It was a man in a brown jacket, hunched over, carrying what looked like a canvas satchel. He ran to the lip of the hole and jumped in, though the fall to the bottom was many times larger than any normal human could hope to come out of safely. This ceased to matter when the man's form changed as he tumbled through the smoke. Long arms seemed to sprout from his shoulders, and his legs grew down towards the ground faster than he fell. Before the Titans could see anything more, he vanished into the smoky inside of the crater, disappearing completely from sight. The team knew it was coming before Robin said it, but they held back that split second until it echoed through the screams and honking horns and screeching tires around them:

"Titans! Go!"

* * *

"I always forget how much I hate the sewers," Beast Boy grumbled as he and Cyborg charged down one end of the cement passageway. There were three possible tunnels branching from the open pit: Starfire had gone down one alone, and Raven and Robin had taken the other. He and Cyborg were heading down the largest tunnel, which led downtown. They moved at a run, leaving the noise and light of the crater as the tunnel lengthened out behind them. Soon the only sound to be heard was the clank of Cyborg's footsteps and the squish of Beast Boy's own as they kept on running, guided only by Cyborg's shoulder-lamp.

"You see anything?" the robotic Titan asked, craning his head over his shoulder to check that they weren't being followed. Beast Boy ground his teeth, trying to avoid being blinded by the beam of light from Cyborg.

"Nothing. Why'd Mystery Guy have to come down here? It stinks and everything is sticky."

"I'm wondering what Mystery Guy had to blow up the whole street for. Maybe he's hiding something in the sewer tunnels."

"If he was, don't you think there'd be an easier way of getting it fr—"

Beast Boy's voice choked off mid-word, at the same time that something smashed into Cyborg's light from behind. Darkness flooded the passage, and for a moment it was filled with sound: a shout, the thud of something heavy, a tiger's roar, concrete crumbling from a tremendous blow, and then a bang and a loud _clang_. That sound echoed off the rounded concrete walls, growing softer with each repetition: it masked the soft moaning and splashing footsteps as someone walked away down the tunnel.

* * *

"Cyborg…Cyborg…come in, Cyborg! Cyborg, respond! Are you injured? Cyborg!"

Robin's voice, ragged with impatience and anxiety, brought Cyborg back to consciousness. He felt his hardware rebooting, coming up to full speed; immediately after, he felt a throbbing pain at the back of his head. The blackness returned for a second, but fled again at the sound of Robin calling his communicator.

"Cyborg! Cyborg, do you copy? Are you there? Answer me!"

"Ohhh…chill, Robin, chill…" Cyborg muttered to himself, gingerly sitting up. The pain in his head pulsed strongly and then faded as his gears crunched. Reflexively, he tried to turn on his lamp, but there was only a small glow that quickly died. _Oh yeah. Someone broke the bulb from behind me. Someone—just now—_

"Beast Boy!" Cyborg called as the last few moments rushed back to him. The ambush had left him surrounded in darkness and with a sizable lump on his skull—but where was BB? Was he still passed out? The call gave rise to no answer: only a mocking echo that continued down the tunnel, sending shivers through Cyborg's circuits.

"Cyborg? Do you copy?" pressed Robin from the little screen flickering on Cyborg's arm. He stood and pressed the microphone button, trying to adjust both eyes to the bright light of the screen.

"Yeah, Robin, I'm here. Me and BB were just jumped from behind, and I got a whallop on the head. They took my light out too. I haven't found BB yet."

"What do you mean you haven't found him?" Robin said loudly; Cyborg could picture the Boy Wonder's puckered brow and clenched fists as he bent over his communicator.

"It's dark here, man, I can't see nothing. BB probably hasn't woken up, I bet he got whacked too."

"Star found a dead end; she's on her way to you right now. Raven and I are turning around too; don't move until we get there. Find Beast Boy and make sure he's okay!"

"Don't have to tell me twice, man," Cyborg muttered as he signed off. The darkness of the tunnel closed in on him again, and he shivered a second time. He'd thought the tunnel was empty when he'd checked over his shoulder; but it seemed like he'd been wrong. Now, without his lamp to at least find the way forward, the blackness seemed to hold an invisible enemy in every direction.

"Beast Boy! BB, you there? Can you hear me, man?" Cyborg called, if only to hear the sound of a voice. There was no answer; the echo bounced around and died away. Cyborg's heart beat faster and his hardware whirred; a growing concern for Beast Boy made his paranoia even more unbearable. He began to shuffle forward, hoping to touch a warm, skinny body with his feet. Yet the tunnel seemed empty in front of him, and no way was he turning around.

But he did turn around, moments later, when a dull green light spilled over his shoulder and illuminated the first couple feet in front of him. Cyborg whirled around to see Starfire cruising down the passageway, a glowing sphere in one hand. She gasped and put a hand to her mouth as he loomed up in front of her, squinting in the light.

"Cyborg! You are…okay?" she asked with concern, floating over to him. He rubbed his head again and blinked as his eyes adjusted.

"Yeah, I think so. But I can't find Beast Boy, it's too dark…"

"What of your scanners, please? Can they also not locate him?"

"My…scanners…" Cyborg repeated slowly, feeling like a complete moron. That knock on the head must have been harder than he thought if it made him forget an impulse that was instinctive by now. He avoided Starfire's worried gaze as he turned on his scanners, data processing with a soft hum. She whimpered slightly, and drew a little closer to him; even with light, the tunnel felt eerie and oppressive.

Cyborg's scans were just finishing when Robin and Raven ran up, panting a little from their sprint. Cyborg cut off Robin's opening question with its answer: "I have his signal, but it's faint. I think his locator's been damaged, it's barely strong enough to show up on my scanners."

"Where is he?" asked Raven. Cyborg ran the coordinates off the LED screen on his arm.

"Not far. If we keep heading down here, we should be able to find him. And hopefully no one else."

"You can tell me what happened here after we find Beast Boy," said Robin sharply. "If we waste any more time, his locator might die and it'll be impossible to find him." With that, he sprang forward into the darkness, splashing off down the tunnel. Starfire followed, strengthening her sphere of light, and Cyborg and Raven brought up the rear as they headed into pitch blackness.

The tunnel ended not far ahead: it widened into a large domed room with waste-deep sewage. Several arches led off to other passages on the left and right: Cyborg pointed and the Titans kept moving, their footsteps and the rustle of Raven's cloak echoing through the cement hallways like whispers in the dark. Tunnel after tunnel, chamber after chamber, and all the while Beast Boy's signal grew weaker. By the time they came within a hundred feet of it, it had all but blinked out of existence. A strange feeling stole over the Titans. They had looked for Beast Boy in the sewers before, but then he'd been more than able to take care of himself. Now a sinking feeling was in the stomachs of the remaining four Titans: eyes seemed to be watch from the shadows, daring them to investigate the hopes of finding their friend.

"Beast Boy…Beast Boy, can you hear me?" Robin called as they moved more slowly down a large, square-walled passage. Starfire's light revealed nothing but a shallow level of water at their feet and occasional niches in the cement, probably for pressure control. Raven narrowed her eyes as she peered ahead, trying to discern shapes in the dimness.

"He should be right around here…" Cyborg muttered, his hand clamped tightly over his scanning arm. Starfire bit her lip as she strengthened the glow of her bolt.

"I do not see him anywhere!" she said, turning in all directions. "I wish that we could just find our friend and know that he is all right—then we could leave this place!"

"Beast Boy's a tough little dude. I'm sure he's okay," Cyborg said with a confidence he didn't feel. His scanners were cranked up to full sensitivity, and he stretched his arm into the air in a vain attempt to further strengthen the signal. Beside him, Robin tried to shake off his own apprehension and opened his mouth to call out again; but an exclamation from Raven stole the words from his throat.

"There!"

She pointed ahead and ran into the darkness, disappearing from the view of the other three Titans. They followed, splashing through slimy sewer water, until the light from Starfire's hand illuminated two figures on the tunnel floor: one sprawled across the ground, the other kneeling over it.

"Did you find him, Raven? Is this our fr—" Starfire cut herself off, her mouth falling slack in horror as she beheld the limp form that lay before Raven. Behind her, Cyborg and Robin were also silent, their mouths open; Robin even dropped the boomerang he'd pulled out when Raven had shouted. It clattered to the floor with a sharp sound that ricocheted off the walls and ceiling, many times louder than normal.

It was indeed Beast Boy that Raven had found; yet if it hadn't been for his familiar green skin and pointed ears, even his friends would have been hard-pressed to recognize him. His purple-and-white uniform had been ripped nearly to shreds; it hung off his body, waterlogged and slimy. The bare skin beneath was mottled with bruises, some a murky green that glowed in the light from Starfire's hand, others a deep, thick black. Four long, deep scratches drew diagonal lines across his back, and blood spread in dark patches down to the sewer water he lay in, which it turned purple in the green glow. He lay in a pile on the ground, his back and shoulders square to the ceiling while his face was half-submerged in water; his legs were twisted at unnatural angles below, with both shoes missing. His arms were doubled up underneath him, and across the skin of his shoulders ran angry scrapes, grey with gravel, as if he had been dragged across the cement. The green hair at the back of his head was matted with water and blood. On the floor by his lower back, now completely dead, was his communicator, stomped nearly to pieces.

"Help me turn him over." Raven broke the silence with her flat, quiet tone. She gestured to Robin, who was still standing, frozen, over Beast Boy. He didn't seem to hear her.

"Robin. Help me turn him over so he can breathe." Still nothing from Robin, or from the other two. "Robin!"

This time he moved. Shaking himself, he went to his knees and cupped the back of Beast Boy's head as gently as he could with one hand. He used the other to lower Beast Boy's shoulders to the ground as Raven carefully raised their friend up and turned him onto his back. Starfire gasped and Cyborg took an involuntary step back as Beast Boy's face came into the light. It was a pulpy mess of bruised and swollen skin, broken teeth and bloody lips. The tip of one of his pointed ears had been torn off. Another set of scratches ran down his chest: they began to bleed anew as the pressure from his arms was relieved.

"Hold him carefully," Raven said, still maneuvering Beast Boy's chest and shoulders. Robin cradled the green changeling in his arms, trying to support his head and keep weight off the scratches on his back. Starfire's eyes grew bright with tears as she looked at the mess that was one of her closest friends, a member of her family.

"Oh Beast Boy…" she whispered without thinking; Raven held up a hand to quiet her, eyes still fixed on Beast Boy's face. She laid her other hand across his brow, her fingers seeking out the pressure points in his skull.

"Azarath metrion zinthos…" she murmured, and dark energy began to creep over Beast Boy's skin.

"What are you doing to him?" Cyborg asked, his voice so quiet it could barely be heard in the thick silence of the tunnel.

"She's healing him," Robin answered in a whisper. Raven took no notice of Cyborg: she closed her eyes and concentrated as the black light slowly enveloped Beast Boy head to toe. He glowed faintly with the strength of the power that was working on him, and a dull hum grew from the pulsating energy field. Yet Beast Boy never twitched an eyelid.

The energy finally dissipated, leaving no discernable change. Cyborg leaned forward and looked over his friend, searching for some evidence of healing. "He doesn't look any better. It didn't work."

"He was bleeding internally…there was some nerve damage around his spine. I did all I could." Raven's voice was still flat and measured, but her shoulders slumped wearily. "He'll stay alive now. At least long enough for us to get him to Titans Tower." She got to her feet and took a deep breath, focusing herself. "Azarath metrion zinthos…"

A ray of black light zigzagged down from her clasped hands and surrounded Beast Boy in another energy field; this one, however, grew into a large bubble which rose into the air, bringing Beast Boy with it. It hung at chest height, keeping him as still as possible, connected to Raven by a thin thread of energy. She took another deep breath and blinked hard. "The healing took something out of me…I might need help carrying him out of here."

"I have a better idea," said Cyborg, walking back the way they had come. He disappeared into darkness, and for a second all they heard were his footsteps; then a flash of blue light blinded them and a sudden boom knocked them backwards. Rubble rained down and cement clunked onto the tunnel floor. There was another blast and a new shower of debris flew everywhere. But this time there was real light: sunlight, making the Titans squint and hunch, but welcoming them back into the upper world.

"That'll make it easier," Raven said with a sigh, and walked towards the gaping hole in the ceiling, the bubble with Beast Boy in it bobbing gently ahead of her. Robin and Starfire followed, more than willing to get out of the sewer. The smell of blood and sewage clung to them as they hoisted themselves out into the blinding sunlight.


	2. Briefing

"Azarath metrion zinthos…azarath metrion zinthos…azarath—"

"Will you cut that out?" Robin growled, clenching his fists. Raven opened one eye and gazed at him steadily. She was floating four feet off the ground, cross-legged, her hands delicately resting on her knees. Robin returned the look from across the room, the lines of his mask furrowing as he glared at her.

"I'm meditating. I need to focus." Her voice was infuriatingly calm, infuriatingly normal. Robin had always been the most understanding of Raven and her "ways", but right now he felt like shoving her to the ground and raising in her a little of the panic he kept fighting in his own chest.

"How can you meditate right now? Are you just above being concerned?" he asked angrily. Raven ignored the goading and closed her eye. Robin felt the familiar burn of fury roiling in the pit of his stomach, spreading to his heart and head. The same fury that helped him fight Slade and every other miserable villain on the planet, the same fury that made him the hero he was. It felt good, because it devoured the fear.

"For all we know, he's dying right now. And you're _meditating_…Are you acting like this on purpose, or do you just not care whether Beast Boy lives or not?"

He hit the target: Raven's eyes both flew open, and her stare could have melted glass.

"I healed him in the sewer, Robin. I felt how hurt he was. I was the one who tugged his life back and kept it there, not you. I care more than you ever could."

"You're so good with reading emotions; tell me, how could you possibly think I don't care?" Robin said through teeth that were clamped together like a vice. He trembled with the urge to hit something, anything, preferably Raven's smooth purple forehead. "How could you say that? He's just as much my friend as he is yours, you think I could even _try_ to not—"

"I never said you didn't care." God, her voice was so irritatingly flat. "I said I cared more than you could. More than you know how to. Not because you love him less; because of me, I've felt it. His death. I saw it coming and I laid hands on it and pushed it back, and kept his soul down inside him at the same time. I can't lose him after that." For a moment the blank face cracked, and Robin saw her brow wrinkle and her hands shake. Very softly, so quietly he couldn't be sure she wasn't talking to herself, she whispered, "He's my family too."

Robin's anger drained away, even as Raven pulled herself together and resumed the calm, peaceful demeanor. She was just as afraid as he was. Her family, one of her loved ones, was in also in jeopardy. She cared.

He went on pacing, as he had before he'd snapped at Raven. The common room seemed tiny to his caged, fevered mind. He wanted to get out of it so badly, so he could do something: find the attacker, check on Beast Boy, find the attacker, examine the place where they'd found him, find the attacker…one thought kept surfacing in his boiling thoughts. _Beast Boy's would-be murderer is out there somewhere and we aren't trying to find him. He could get away. He could escape._

Round and round the anxiety went, bubbling and aching, until Robin was wound so tightly that he jumped a foot in the air and went into combat position when his communicator beeped. Raven opened her eyes and watched as he answered the call, blushing slightly.

"Cyborg?"

"Hey, man. You and Raven can come downstairs if you want. We've done all we can for now."

"What do you mean, 'for now'?"

"Just get down here, Robin. We all _really_ need to talk. You can see him too, if you want."

"We're on our way." Robin hung up and turned to Raven. "You heard?"

"Let's go," she agreed, coming out of her meditative position. He joined her and followed her out into the corridor: as they walked towards the elevator that went down to the medical bay, Robin fought the urge to put a hand on her shoulder. She seemed smaller now that she was on the ground, and very alone—rather how he was feeling himself. He restrained himself from offering a friendly hand until halfway down the elevator ride: he laid his fingers very lightly over hers and gave a small, reassuring squeeze.

Nothing could have surprised him more than the reciprocating pressure he felt from her before their hands fell apart and the doors opened to the medical bay.

0000

Starfire had her back to them when they entered. She was writing something on a clipboard, a halo of light from the monitors overhead wreathing her crimson hair. Readouts and stats of all kinds were beeping and whirring, while an IV stand stood beside the bed, some bluish liquid dripping slowly down a tube. Cyborg was hunched over a computer screen, typing feverishly. The closest bed was surrounded by a large grey curtain, which only the IV tube penetrated.

"He's stabilized," Cyborg said without turning around. "We almost lost him a few minutes ago, but he came back quick. Whatever you did, Raven, you did it good. It gave us time we really needed."

Raven moved towards the curtain, raising a hand to sweep it aside, but Starfire pulled her away before she could disturb the drapery.

"Please, do not go in quite yet. We have just run many medical tests; it is good to take time of peace and quiet. In moments, you can see him."

"What kind of tests? What _else_ is wrong?" Robin asked, trying to infuse his voice with the leadership energy he felt so clearly lacking at the moment. His words came out flat and crass. Cyborg turned and glared at him, lights still flashing on various body parts.

"There are chemical compounds in his blood and muscle tissue that I'm trying to identify. My best guess is that they got into his bloodstream though the open wounds, but I have no idea where they actually came from in the first place."

"Why? Are they dangerous? Are they hurting him?" Raven asked, her voice sharp. Cyborg frowned.

"I'm not sure. So far they don't seem malicious, but they could just have a slow rate of reaction. I'm keeping close tabs on everything."

"May we now let them see him, Cyborg?" Starfire asked anxiously. "I do not like to think of him alone in the dark."

"Sure, open 'im up," Cyborg said, standing. Robin drew back the curtain surrounding the bed: lying under two or three blankets, an oxygen mask clamped down on his face, swollen and discolored on every surface, looking painfully small, was Beast Boy. It wasn't quite as bad to see him now: the hospital setting and slow beeping of the medical apparatus made the injuries seem lesser, as though the presence of care erased the initial horror of finding him sprawled on the ground in the sewer. But he was still scary to look at, and Robin had to swallow hard as he gazed at his broken green friend.

"I sedated him, just in case," Cyborg said quietly. Starfire gently took one of Beast Boy's hands in her own, green cradled in orange. The IV tube protruded from the back of the other hand.

"What's his prognosis?" Robin asked. Cyborg shrugged.

"Hard to say. If the whatever-it-is in his blood doesn't turn out to be a toxin or something, he'll probably be up and alert in a few days. Before he wakes up, I can't tell you when mobility will be possible. Could be a couple weeks, could be a couple months."

"You mean it could be that long before he can fight again?"

"Fight?" Cyborg repeated, his red eye flashing. "Who said fight? I said mobility, walking. Shapeshifting and fighting will have to take a backseat to everything else. He'll be able to work his way back up to all that eventually, if he takes care of himself for a long, long time. But until I give the okay, BB won't change into anything except his pajamas."

There was a long silence after Cyborg finished speaking. It really hit home now: Beast Boy had only just survived, and, it seemed, at a price. None of them had been so badly hurt before. They were superheroes: picking themselves up and going back to bat was just a part of the job, one that Beast Boy had never shirked. Despite the whining and complaining and the occasional shriek, he was as tough as the rest of them. Whoever had beaten him had meant to kill.

"We'll find the person who did this," Robin said quietly. "We will find him, and we will make him regret it. We'll make him regret being born."

"Don't need to tell me twice," said Raven.


	3. Starfire

Hoo boy, long time no update. Anyway, here's a little POV short from Starfire. Hopefully the others' will follow and this thing can get off the ground. If you like it, let me know and help me kick my ass in gear. Thanks!

* * *

_He is my friend. My friend who makes me laugh, and eats the food from my home when the others refuse to, and who can seem so sad at times that I only want to hold him and tell him that he is not alone. He is my friend, and someone has broken him. Whoever has done it…I will break them._

Starfire cruised low, her toes occasionally bumping rooftops when her concentration wandered. And it did wander, even though she was supposed to be searching on full alert for something, anything…anything at all. Elsewhere in the city, she knew, Robin and Raven were on the same search. But the streets were quiet—even the construction zone that had sprung up around the bomb crater was barren, small red lights blinking over DANGER signs and police tape. There was nothing to see, nothing out of the ordinary. And even if something had been different, how could they see it? They didn't know what or who or where they were looking for: it was a snipe hunt for a mystery target. Nothing.

Star swooped around a skyscraper, her wavering reflection loyally dogging her in the dark glass. Her heart was sick: at least, the center of her chest ached with a hundred painful emotions (her heart, which was located at the small of her back, felt fine). Most of it was just Beast Boy: worry, fear, sadness, grief, anger, love. But some of it came from elsewhere: the fierce buzz of the caged warrior rising in her, the gnawing uncertainty of searching for nothing, the unpleasant thoughts that kept popping up…

_One of our number was almost killed. Beast Boy could be dead. Why? What if it were to happen again? What if I lose him? What if I lose any of my friends? What if I lose Robin?_

It was making her nauseous. Starfire pulled up suddenly, speeding towards the stars. She came to a halt several hundred feet up and hovered over the city, peering down at the matrix of blinking, twinkling lights. Somewhere in there was a killer. Somewhere in there was a dangerous person. Somewhere in there…was someone who would pay, one way or another.

The sprawling patchwork of light beneath her mesmerized Star: she stayed there, floating, gazing downwards for another five minutes before the trill of an incoming communication broke her reverie. Biting her lip, Starfire flipped the round yellow communicator open to see Cyborg, frowning against a background of computers.

"Star? Find anything?"

"No, Cyborg. I am sorry. I have searched all of downtown…but I have found nothing. Truthfully, I do not even know what it is I am searching for."

"I know, Star. I know." He sighed, his human eye cast downwards. Starfire could still feel the sick ache in her own chest; for Cyborg, Beast Boy's best friend, it must be almost intolerable.

"Does Beast Boy remain stable?"

"Yeah. He was moaning a little, though, and his stress level started going up, so I gave him a couple milligrams of morphine. He's completely out now."

"Have Robin or Raven—"

"No, Starfire. No one's found anything. You're right. We have no idea what to look for."

"Perhaps if we searched the sewers—"

"You heard Robin." Cyborg's voice was sharp, tense. "No one is going back there 'til we search the whole damn city. Chances are the guy left the scene of the crime way behind. We don't go down there unless we have to."

"I know, Cyborg. I am sorry." Star knew better than to push him. Neither he nor Robin wanted anyone else hurt—yet the only lead they had was the sewers. By not allowing them to follow it, Robin was making the goose chase even wilder, and potentially letting the culprit get further out of reach. But he was the leader, and when he said something, he meant it. Starfire trusted him. With her life, with anyone's.

"It's cool, Star. Sorry to yell." The snap was gone as soon as it had come; he sound tired now, sad. Starfire felt her throat close a little.

"Cyborg, I think I will return now. I wish to be near him…and you. Is that satisfactory?"

"…Yeah. Come on back. See you soon."

"See you soon." She closed the communicator. In the absence of Cyborg's voice, the sounds of the sleeping city floated up to her: driving cars, laughing voices, barking dogs. A quiet, lovely city.

Where killers hid.

Starfire dipped her head, pointed her toes to the stars, and headed towards home.


	4. Cyborg

_Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Damn stupid. You are the most sophisticated piece of technology since the Internet. You can push yourself to superhuman levels, accomplish the impossible, move beyond the limitations of others…you can do these things without blinking. But you can't keep one tiny green kid from getting beaten to a pulp by some mystery psycho. So stupid. Vic Stone, Cyborg, you are a hunk of junk who can't even keep his best friend safe. Stupid, stupid, stupid._

_God, let him forgive me. Someday._

The screens weren't changing. Soft, soothing, they kept beeping and whirring the same way, projecting the same figures and readings. **Temperature: normal. Heart rate: normal. Blood protein levels: constant. Brain activity: dormant. Blood pressure: normal.**

Beast Boy's internal workings weren't like other humans'. He shifted his molecules on a daily basis: their shape, their composition, their placement. Nothing in his body stayed the same for long. It was impossible for normal instruments to keep track of his bodily functions, but when he'd first gotten the Tower up and running, Cyborg had taken great care to make sure each Titan was compatible with the medical system. Starfire and her alien physiology; Raven's strange body chemistry that sometimes seemed to shoot up or flatline without cause and without effect; Robin's slightly over-trained and peak condition body; even his own half-metal structure, its delicate interactions with the organic and the mechanical always slipping out of balance in tiny ways. The machines knew how to track Beast Boy and how to keep him healthy. It knew how to take care of him—evidently much better than Cyborg did.

He sighed and laid a metal hand against his bare scalp. Why was it so much worse this time? They'd taken some knocks before, all of them. Robin had broken ribs and gotten a concussion from himself, when Slade's neurological agent had caused him to hallucinate an invisible enemy; Raven's run-in with the Beast that was Adonis had left in her a coma for the whole night, constantly healing herself. Cyborg remembered being broken by Brother Blood, overpowered by Atlas. Beast Boy himself had gotten knocked around a lot, as he always had to fight hand-to-hand, close up. With the Titans, with the Doom Patrol…and the rest of them, all from hard backgrounds. They were used to it. They could take a punch.

But this was different. The level of the injury was alarming, that was part of it. He'd almost died in front of their eyes. It's one thing to know a friend may die; it's another to be there, watching it happen. But it was also the situation: an unknown assailant, without even a mask like Slade's to identify him, had left Beast Boy for dead. There was a grudge here. There was intent. It wasn't about getting past the Teen Titan; it was about killing him. And there had been no sacrifice, no knowledge from Beast Boy: it was a surprise attack. Unexpected. Sudden.

_And I let it happen!_

That was what he couldn't forgive. Cyborg had been there, in the tunnel, with Beast Boy right beside him. And he'd let it happen. He didn't help. He couldn't.

The beeping was suddenly grating in his circuits, repetitive and intolerable. He stood and went quickly to the bed, pulling the curtain back a little. Beast Boy looked tiny now, surrounded by machines and wires. Cyborg reached down and laid a gentle hand on the wiry shoulder. Crazy and green…never far from a joke, never serious when he needed to be. But he cared. Beast Boy cared and cared and never let on to it, except when he had to. Cyborg saw it. He saw the caring, and the love, and the determination…and he also saw the ways Beast Boy made an effort not to be taken seriously by the rest of the team. It was that effort that would help him grow up, one of these days. That effort would change direction and become the driving force that made Beast Boy a man instead of a boy.

But for now…Cyborg closed his eye and momentarily switched off the electric one. For now, Beast Boy was hurt, and his friends had to be the driving force for him.


	5. Robin

_So. What do you have to say to yourself, Robin? What is there to say at all? You failed as a leader. You failed as a friend. Now you're failing as a hero. How hard can it be to find one person, one stinking low-down son-of-a…oh god, if Bruce could see this. If he could see me, flailing, turning away from our only lead, letting the trail get cold…yelling at Raven and Cyborg, ignoring Star…looking down and away when the curtain was opened…_

_Beast Boy. Why did it have to be you? The one Titan I know the least about, the person who's most different from me. I don't know how to understand him like Cyborg does. I get frustrated with him so easily sometimes…in this little family, he's the kid brother, who we love but sometimes forget about, sometimes overlook. I can't believe myself…it seems like ages ago that I felt constantly undervalued by Bruce, always ignored and underappreciated, never getting the praise or the acknowledgement or…or the respect. Beast Boy might as well be me. I watch him in battle sometimes, and if he buckled down, controlled his power seriously…well, I'm not sure I could beat him. He works hard, tries hard, and he needs this family just like I do. So why am I denying him the respect I wanted so badly from the last person I considered my family?_

Robin revved the R-Cycle and sped down the street, the slipstream tugging at his cape. His eyes moved, unseeing, over the shadows and pools of lamplight in the nighttime streets.

_Because he isn't me. I push myself to the limit every day, no time for jokes or fooling around or smiling, even…and that's what he does best. Most of the time. I can't respect him because I respect discipline, and he has none. Or if he does, he's not challenging it like I do: he's shrugging it off, fighting it so he can get back at whoever disciplined him in the first place. Bruce taught me to be better than my best. Beast Boy doesn't understand that. He doesn't—he—damnit, Beast Boy, I'm going to find the person who did this and make them sorry. I promise you that._

Robin shook his head, trying to clear the clamor of thoughts away. His mind often did this circling and buzzing in moments of stress, spitting out random ideas and concepts until he felt dizzy. And as many threads as he wove around himself, Robin couldn't deny the inevitable: someone he loved had been hurt, and the one who had hurt him would be going down. Permanently.

_Respect…I'm wrong. I just arguing against what I know is true, the way I always used to. I do respect him. For being so different from me. For doing what I do but without the constant pressure on himself. I respect him—but I resent him. I envy him. _

"No!" He ground his teeth and shot around a corner too fast, the tires barely keeping their grip on the road. Robin stared until his eyes ached, looking for something that wasn't there. His problem of thinking too much was overwhelming at times. Bruce used to—

His communicator beeped at his waist. With one hand still guiding the bike, he reached down and grabbed it, bringing it to his ear.

"Robin."

"I am returning home," said Starfire, her voice crackling with static. "I have found nothing downtown. Cyborg says Beast Boy is currently stable."

"Okay. I'm going to cover as much as I can before first light," Robin said with a little snap in his voice. Why did her voice irritate him? Part of him wanted to just keep listening to her, letting her sweet, earnest words soothe his buzzing brain; another part of him wanted to hurl the communicator into the river.

"Robin…"

"What?" he said fiercely, running a red light. Her short, hurt silence only made him hate himself a little more.

"Robin, I--what happened to Beast Boy was not your fault."

"I know, Star." And it was gone, all the anger and rage and haste. Replaced by a deep ache in the pit of stomach that chanted, _She's wrong, she's wrong, she doesn't understand, it was me, I let him down…_

"Robin? Are you all right?"

"I'll see you back home, Star. Give Raven a call on your way, see how she is." He hung up and pressed down hard on the accelerator. The R-Cycle roared in response, and boy and machine shot forward into the night.


	6. Raven

_Nothing on Polk Street…a suspicious shadow on Hamilton, maybe—no, just a dog and some trash. Nothing on Tremont…nothing on Greenwich…let me try the rooftops again…_

She soared upwards and landed soft as a moth on the top of an office building, her blue cape billowing up and blotting out the few dim stars behind her. She went to the edge and looked out over the whole of the city. As she took a deep breath, Raven's soul-self spread out from her body and bled across everything she saw, probing and searching amongst the lines of yellow and black light. There was no tingle of recognition or difference from the thousands of tiny lives that pulsed in bunches around her. She had no idea what to recognize, but it was worth a try. She would stand there and let her soul-self fade with the coming light of dawn, stand there until she fell asleep and slipped forward into the abyss.

She would do it for him.

_No, Raven. Stop. Azarath metrion zinthos…you have to focus…azarath metrion zinthos…keep looking. Just do it._

She sent out another wave of consciousness. The same familiar dotted matrix of life blipped back. Nothing stand-out. Nothing new.

Her fingers tingled slightly, and she absently rubbed them against her thigh. She didn't often touch souls, let alone plunge her hands into the life force of a human being and root around to find the flickering spark that was threatening to snuff itself out. The sensation was something like a horrible case of pins-and-needles, and it lingered for a couple days at most. It was mildly unpleasant, like a crick in the neck or a tender tooth.

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing. Her fingers prickled harder, now becoming actually painful. She gritted her teeth and looked down at the offending hand. It might have been a trick of the misty late-night shadows, but she thought she saw a faint green tinge around her fingernails and knuckles.

_Brings a new meaning to the term 'green thumb.'_

She shouldn't have thought that. It took a single second for her chest to cave in the tiniest bit, and another second for her stomach to cramp. She stiffened and stood perfectly still, the air around her suddenly crackling with energy.

_That sounded like him…_

She needed control. It was ridiculous: years of meditating, a lifetime of self-discipline and constant vigilance, unable to let her guard down for a second, and one corny joke tore her to pieces. It was not something she would ever have said aloud. But his stupid jokes…she depended on them. They were there to irritate her, like the ground was there to walk on or air was there to breathe.

_No. You should be able to breathe without him. It's ridiculous, what you're doing. Pull yourself together, Raven…you felt him alive, didn't you? You brought him back to life. You know he'll be all right. You did it for him. You helped him._

Her breath was even, her stomach felt fine, her chest was whole and pain-free. Raven sucked her soul-self back in and looked at the horizon with calculating eyes. Dawn was an hour away, maybe two. There was time to keep looking.

_You don't know what to look for. None of you do._

She left the rooftop and flew low, weaving through streets and alleyways.

_He's so broken. It'll take days for him to wake up, that's what Cyborg said. Days._

The streets were empty. No one was out now, not so late and so early.

_What if you didn't do enough? What if you only prolonged the inevitable? What if Cyborg is wrong? What if you lose him and there's no more talking at the water's edge, no more awful jokes, no more tofu smells in the morning, no more pleading for StankBall, no more beating him at gin rummy, no more of him helping you back up after a hard knock in a fight, no half-a-second looks from across the room, no more of his smiles and his scratchy voice and the arm he puts around you when you can't stop yourself from looking sad and the hugs that you let yourself relax into for a fraction of a second before you push him away…what if those are all going to be just memories?_

"No." The word was dead in her mouth, but it cuts through the stillness of the city like a cannon blast.

_He will not be a memory. Arella is a memory. Azarath is a memory. My father and everything he did to me is a memory. I will not let him be a memory._

She shot up and over the buildings, towards the faint haze of stars and clouds overhead, her purple hair blown back from her face and her cheeks pulling away from her jaw, heading straight into the dull glow of the approaching sun.


End file.
